Claude Anet

Born Jean Schopfer in 1868, he wrote under the pen name Claude Anet. He was born in Switzerland, studied in France at the Sorbonne and the École du Louvre, and went on to build a literary career in Paris.

Anet wrote novels, plays, biographies, and travel books, and he also worked as a journalist. Sources on his life note that he covered the Russian Revolution, showing how closely his writing was tied to the major events and cultural shifts of his era.

He was also a competitive tennis player, an unusual detail that adds to his appeal today. That mix of literary ambition, reporting, and firsthand experience of sport helped give his work a lively, worldly character before his death in 1931.